With all the negative media coverage concerning riots in Suriname the last few weeks we want to let you know that we are safe and that we only noticed what is going on through the media. Of course, people in the interior also see prices of groceries and fuel are rising for the last few years. Fortunately, they are much less dependent on all the amenities the city offers. It’s nice to have a cylinder of cooking gas, it makes the cooking process a lot easier, but if it’s not there, they go to the forest and cut wood for cooking.

After almost a week of cleaning in our house in Apetina, we were ready to receive guests. We expected two men from the Netherlands on a Tuesday, but the flight schedule was messed up that morning, so the flight got re-scheduled for the next day. We were looking forward to meet them since they would bring a new Power Converter for our solar system.

When we arrived in Apetina, the radiator of the village generator was loaded into the plane to be repaired in the city. We are still waiting for the repair to be finished and for a flight that can take the radiator back to the village. Waiting is an issue we are used to in the jungle. When we tried to connect our freezer to the solar system it turned out that the Power Converter was broken. That meant no electricity at all! How can we charge our phones and computer? How do we keep the meat frozen and other items we brought with us to be refrigerated? Fortunately, there has been built a solar-powered freezer house in the village. The meat is kept frozen in one of the four freezers. There was room for our modest bag. Water is cooled/frozen in another freezer. With some improvising we managed to keep our fridge cool last week. In another house we could charge 2 battery packs each day in order to power our telephones so we could stay connected to the outside world. We are very grateful that this was possible and we were able to get things back to normal after a week when MAF brought in a new Power Converter to be installed.

In the past few days, Marco went for a dip in the river before siesta. It took quite a long time for him to return. As it turned out, his glasses fell into the river. Marco had to dive several times to look for his glasses, but in vain. While praying, he tried one more time close by. Happy to find his glasses back in his hands. Marco has a spare pair of glasses…in the city. These would have been difficult weeks. He came home very happy. Together we thanked God that He also wants to help us in these daily things. Nothing is too big or too small for Him.

In the village we hear the bushcutters every day. There is a lot of mowing in the village to have everything ready in time for the Easter conference. Last Saturday the people started to cut cooking wood getting into the bush with a number of canoes. Last week we brought 80 kilos of groceries for the church. We hear that three canoes full of people from the Lawa river are coming for the conference. A number of canoes also come down the river from Tepoe and Palemeu crossing the heavy rapids upstream from Apetina.

Last week we bought online the airline tickets to Canada for Amepun and Susina. They hope to be in Canada from May 10 to August 3. Their main goal is to learn the English language, but they also will stay in Sunchild and O’Chiese reserve for a number of weeks to minister to the people there. They look forward to meeting the people again. The missionary couple we met last year will take care of ESL, English lessons. Until then, the weekly online classes with Marilynne from Calgary will continue ‘as usual’. We are impressed by the faithfulness of Amepun and Susina, but also of Marilynne, who has been spending time every Saturday morning at 8 am to teach the Wayana for almost 2 years now.

Last but NOT Least we would like your attention for the

For the very first time EVER, World Team will be hosting a Global Conference in summer 2023 where ALL World Team missionaries from all over the world, and the staff of all three sending centers, are invited to participate. It is called the “3C Conference” – Community – Collaboration – Celebration, and will be hosted in Asia. We are excited to be a part of such a worldwide team, and eager to meet coworkers from Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Europe. This will be an opportunity to find community among workers that can relate to our day-to-day, collaborate on future projects, celebrate the grace of the Lord that we have each seen in our lives and ministries, and learn from the hundreds of years of combined experiences of our colleagues. Here are some specific prayer requests for the upcoming World Team Global Conference:

1) Pray for safety for the many workers who will be traveling from all over the world.

2) Pray that God would use this conference to sustain and stir up his workers to face the upcoming challenges and joys of ministry.

3) Pray for encouragement, renewal, and new ideas as we speak to missionaries whose experience varies from ours. 

4) Pray that we would all walk away from this conference with a renewed joy and passion in our work. 

Would you consider helping to make this conference possible for our workers? Would you pray about sponsoring an individual or a family? Your partnership will have a huge impact on the future of our mission and our projects.